Okay, in our haste to dive in, I did not get complete or "good" pictures. July 2010 Martha Stewart Living has a recipe for a steam pot, slightly different from what we normally make so we decided we'd try it best we could as not all the ingredients were available.
In these photos we had already dished up and dived into the lobster and many shrimp...the peel and eat kind when I thought oh take pictures! So it's not truly what it looked like...that pot was so full the lid barely fit on top of it and I nearly could not carry it to the table.
So here's how it goes, it is simple to make and a bit cheaper to make at home than to go out, though this cost close to $200, seafood is not cheap, but it was better than restaurant food, and basically cheaper too. There were six stuffed Cochran clan at our table when we finished and four neighbors too.
Chop up 2 vidalia or other sweet onions along with three garlic toes chopped finely, toss into a large pot, add a bottle of pale ale, cook about five minutes, add bite size pieces of andouille sausage...Martha said Chorizo but the andouille was great, add one cup of water and bring to a boil! The andouille was so great we froze the remainder of it. Now with each add, cook about five minutes then toss in the next stuff...add about 2 lbs or around 6 red potatoes quartered or you could use new potatoes and about 2 teaspoons of salt, or maybe a tablespoon, just don't overdo it with salt, cook about five minutes more, I'm not going to keep saying that just do it, add five or six ears of corn broken in half, then add cherry clams enough for your gang...I bought one bag, mussels, same thing...we didn't have any, none available, now add crab legs, I used two packages, then the lobster tails, we had six of those; or whole lobsters but who wants to fiddle with all of that part...tails are fine here, and last I used 2 pounds of shrimp. Now cover the pot again and let simmer until the lobster, crabs, and shrimps are cooked, you'll know as they turn pink or red. Meanwhile make up bowls of melted real butter...slice up big slices of lemons, give everyone their own little bowls of butter...line your table with newspapers and put a bit hot pad in the middle...get your ice tea made or get your glasses filled with ice for your cokes or whatever...sometimes we'll make a pan of cornbread or have a nice crusty bread but who wants that when you got all that good stuff? We did make deviled eggs though...nearly always do that when the family eats together.
Now make up some seafood sauce....all of this is to taste...bottle of Heinz Chili sauce, add worchestershire sauce, lemon juice and horseradish and mix...serve in a couple of small bowls at least one for every two folks.
Put that steam pot in the middle of the table, use big ole tongs to haul stuff out. Pig out and enjoy! Didn't hurt to have a huge watermelon all cut up and read to eat either!
Now when we had eaten all we could...my daughter and I sat and picked at least a pound of crab off all the remaining crab legs and let our men folk take the boys to the pool while we worked and chatted, just put the crab in a covered dish and refrigerate, same with the shrimps...right into a baggy. We froze the remaining andouille for something good later. We shelled the corn, chopped the potatoes into bite size pieces...
ahh then the Crab Corn Bisque the next night...all you need from the store is a medium size container of whipping cream and a large box, you know, the Progresso or Swan's type box of chicken broth. Now put the potatoes, corn, crab into a pot, cover with the whipping cream and the chicken broth, taste for salt...adjust...we did not need to add salt if you have too much add a raw potato to pull some of that salt out...add some fresh cracked pepper...just warm that up an serve with oyster crackers or saltines...it was so good we couldn't see straight! I shared it with four of my little old folks neighbors that I adore....took each of them a quart of it, that was just to two houses...but it made a lot, we all ate all we wanted. We ate the leftover shrimps and seafood dip and corn crab chowder for dinner the next night...what we forgot was we strained all the juices off the steam pot, we were going to use it in the soup, but forgot but I'm betting it would've been as good as the chicken broth, perhaps better...so next time we'll try that.
Normally when we make a steam pot we use just two cups of water and a package of Crab Boil, but this time we tried Martha's Pale Ale routine and man was it good...didn't even miss the crab boil stuff. This is just so simple and honestly our men folk thought my daughter and I were beyond brilliant..so did our neighbors...hardest part of the entire thing...cracking those crab legs...even though we had all the necessary crab crackers, hammers, and picks, still that was work but so worth it!
This we did on the Fourth of July....then after our swim the neighborhood treated us to fireworks watched right from our own screened in porch....perfect! just perfect!
